Check out this rad red Genji cosplay

Overwatch heroes are obviously popular with cosplayers, but some of those characters have easier outfits to make than others. I've seen a lot of McCrees, because a hat, a cigar, and the ability  to say "It's high noon!" at everyone is all you need. Others are trickier, not that it'll stop fans from trying—I look forward to seeing more Hammonds doing the rounds at conventions in the future.

Avery Byrd's Genji costume has been in the works for a while. While he first concepted the idea late in 2016, he says the bulk of the work was done in four months, with additions later on as he made a new helmet and shoulders, modified the paint scheme, and so on. "It's pretty much all foam of varying thicknesses along with straps and velcro," he explains. "It's all held together with contact cement so it won't fall apart having continued use. Finally, I actually used a bunch of different dupli-color brand filler primers and paints for the finished metallic look I currently have."

Genji's not always the most popular character in Overwatch, so it's nice to see him getting some attention. "I have a major love for cyborg ninjas like Gray Fox and Raiden from Metal Gear," Byrd says. "The moment I saw Genji in the Overwatch roster when he had yet to be named, I knew for a fact I wanted to cosplay him. His character silhouette was so freaking cool."

And the reaction from other fans has been positive too. "Everyone loves it. I can actually change the lights on the chest to a bunch of different colors so that usually gets people excited. I've also gotten my fair share of people wanting me to do really silly meme type stuff, which I'm always more than willing to do. It's a part of what makes a convention fun. Numerous people have also said they would love to use the skin in-game, which is a pretty high compliment."

Check out more of Avery Bird's cosplay on Instagram and Facebook.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.